Crawford Notch and North Conway

We left Jefferson and while everyone else was headed north to Maine, we headed south to North Conway for the day.  We had intended to hike to some other waterfalls closer to North Conway, but while driving through Crawford Notch State Park we saw a small sign that said, "waterfall, 20 minute hike".  We turned the car around and decided to have an adventure. It turned out to be a beautiful hike with a wonderful reward at the end:)  This bottom picture is of James' camera car he bought at Santa's Village.  He wanted the car to see "all of the sights" and have his picture taken... he thought this was so funny! 

Santa's Village 2015

We now have another successful trip to Santa's Village in the books! The kids spent Sunday morning making birthday cupcakes for Nannie.  Sunday afternoon we packed up and headed for Jefferson.  Thankfully, my mom took lots of pictures because, maybe 3 of these were mine... Maybe keeping track of the kids is all my brain can handle at this point;)  Ben was tall enough to go on everything this year and Noah was tall enough to go on everything alone. So, we only had a breakdown from Audrey when she realized she couldn't go on the bumper cars... hey, it's progress:)  All in all it was a great trip!

Summer Fun!

This past week, we actually had a few days at home!  Gabe, my dad and a few friends got in a round of golf at Sugarloaf on a gorgeous day.  We were able to get quite a few things checked off our summer bucket list including: playing with chalk and dancing in the rain.  We had to find just the right balance of warmth and rain without thunder, which can be challenging at this time of year.  One evening it worked out perfectly and the kids (and Gabe) had an absolutely fantastic time!

Friday we traveled to Portland for a day at the beach with friends followed by picking up our registration packets for the Beach to Beacon 10K. The next morning Gabe and I participated in (and finished) our first 10K.  There was a time last winter and this spring that I was a better runner than Gabe. I had been consistently running and he occasionally had a hard time keeping up with me over a distance.  We both signed up for the Beach to Beacon. During the race I kept us on pace and at one point had to tell Gabe to suck it up and get running.  We got to the last mile, I felt great and realized that I probably should have been running at a faster pace, so I started sprinting. I ran through the finish line not knowing where Gabe was, but knowing that he wasn't in front of me.  For the first time in the 16+ years I have known him, I had finally beat him at something... Neither of us said anything about the finish as we visited the booths, had snacks and got on the shuttle buses back to our car.  On the shuttle I checked my email and got my finish time. Then Gabe got his... he finished 1 second BEFORE me!!! When I looked at him he had a huge smile on his face, was laughing and said, "I tried to make it so we finished at exactly the same time. I could barely keep up, I was on the other side." As it turned out I crossed the starting line just before him... So, all is well with the universe, I will just have to try and find something else to best him at;)

In all seriousness, the Beach to Beacon was an exciting and gorgeous race and we would love to do it again!  Saturday afternoon we arrived home to have a BBQ and campfire with Nannie, Grandpa, Aunt Amy, Trey, Lily and the Casey's.  Oh, and the FedEx guy who gratefully accepted our s'more offer after he delivered us a package at 7:00pm on a Saturday night:)

The Melman Family Visits

We arrived home from our trip to Belgrade Lakes just in time to host our friends from Connecticut.  We had stopped at their home briefly on our way back from DC last spring and realized that we hadn't seen them for over 2 years!  So, they were kind enough to make the trip to Maine to visit. It was with this trip that I realized that I am just not great at remembering to take pictures this summer... The first picture is of Audrey awaiting their arrival, getting in a little golf:)  We let the kids run wild with the chickens, play in the pool and enjoyed some much overdue visiting.  We did take them on a hike and picnic lunch to one of our favorite spots to enjoy the view of Webb Lake.  Overall we had a great time and will try hard not to let another 2 years go by.  Thanks Melmans!

Belgrade Lakes 2015

For the first time since we have been vacationing in Belgrade Lakes we had, mostly, beautiful weather!  We spent several days boating, kayaking, fishing and visiting with friends.  Noah has become a confident kayaker and all of the kids are becoming experts at jumping out of the canoe/kayak and swimming along side... they thought that this was the coolest thing ever!  One morning we even got in an easy hike with gorgeous views of both lakes.  The top left picture is of Audrey's latest potty training tactic... she desperately wants to stand and pee every time the boys do... oh the plight of being the younger sister with 3 older brothers;) Thanks friends for hosting us, we can't wait to visit again!